Is there anyway to still have a sexual relationship with someone who has herpes !
Question:
Is there anyway to still have a sexual relationship with someone who has herpes and not contract it???
....is there anything you can take to prevent from getting it?!?!?
Answers:
There is no way to be 100% sure, but the chance can be drastically reduced.
Using an anti viral medication reduces chance of transmission to about 2-10% depending on your gender. Using a condom reduces the risk by another 50%. So a man has a 1% chance of catching it from his female partner.
Avoiding sex during outbreaks also reduces the risk.
Since you can have either type 1 or type 2 genitally, both of you should be tested. If you have the same type they do orally then you do not need to worry about catching it genitally.
It is actually safer to have sex with someone who has a positive diagnosis of herpes than with someone who has it and does not know. Remember that between 24 & 40% of the population has genital herpes and only 10% are aware they have it. Those who are unaware they have the virus are less likely to use safety measures and are more likely to spread it.